I was woken in the night by a huge Viking River Cruises boat mooring onto ours, but we disengaged ourselves at breakfast time and sailed towards Rüdesheim. Our way took us past numbers of castles, but most of them disappeared in the mist which hung about for most of the morning. The first castle, now a ruin, was referred to as Burg Maus. It was actually named Thurnberg, but mockingly named 'Mouse' by the counts of Katzenelnbogen, whose castle nearby (Burg Katz) was much bigger. Burg Maus was built in the 14th century, and blown up by Napoleon in 1806. It was rebuilt on the original plans in 1900. I would post a photo of it, but you can hardly see it in the mist.
The next castle was the huge Burg Rheinfels; built in 1245 to collect tolls, it was the biggest castle on the Rhine for 5 centuries. It was eventually destroyed by the French in 1797, and is now just a shell.
It stood above the pretty town of St Goar, at one time the most strongly fortified town on the Rhine.
We next came to Burg Katz, also shrouded in the mist, facing St. Goar.
Burg Katz was built in 1371, another castle intended to control traffic on the river. It was destroyed at the orders of Napoleon in 1806. It was rebuilt about 1900, and bought in the 1990s by a wealthy Japanese businessman who intended to turn it into a tourist attraction for Japanese tourists, since it is so close to the Lorelei rock. He failed to get his plans accepted by the local authority and just abandoned the castle so it is now derelict.
I did manage to take a photo of the Lorelei statue as we swept past, but it's a very poor one so I'll try again on the way back. The statue stands on a spit of land which was built to give barges protection from the ice floes which used to sweep down the river. The actual Lorelei rock, with a steep cliff face, is next to it.
Even though it was quite late in the morning, the top of the rock was still shrouded in mist.
Below the Lorelei are some killer rocks, known as Die 7 Jungfrauen or The 7 Maidens. The legend is that they were the seven daughters of a king who wanted them to marry and called in his knights so they could choose husbands; the girls didn't fancy what was on offer and ran away, escaping across the river on a boat which overturned and drowned them, and they turned to stone. Large flocks of cormorants find these rocks convenient as fishing spots, so they are covered with big black birds, wings stretched out to dry.
The town of Oberwesel came next, with towers and the remains of old city wall.
It is dominated by another castle, Schönburg, but that had also disappeared in the mist.
I'd be inclined not to post many more castle photos, but couldn't resist Burg Gutenfels.
There are two reasons for that. One is the story told by our guide that the castle was so strong that the Swedes failed to take it after many months, and eventually agreed to spare the defenders if they gave up and came out, to which they agreed. When the gates finally opened, the defenders that came out were two old people and one goat; the goat had lived on the grass inside, and the old folk on the goat's milk. Believe it if you like! The other reason for this photo is that it shows the very steep vineyards. These vineyards produce very good wine because the underlying rock is black slate, which retains the heat of the sun which builds up during the day and radiates it out at night. So these vineyards produce very superior grapes that make wine of a very high value.
I also couldn't resist this little castle, Die Pfalz, set in the middle of the river.
It was built there in the 1300s to tax the river traffic, which it did very effectively, lowering a chain which stopped the boats. It was never captured, and could be held by a small number of soldiers. The town of Kaub became very rich on the duty charged. Kaub is also notable for a big statue of General von Blücher, who outwitted Napoleon by building a pontoon bridge here to cross the Rhine, outflanking him. Von Blücher subsequently teamed up with Wellington to defeat Napoleon at Waterloo.
I won't bore you with photos of Burg Stahleck above the town of Bacharach, but the town itself is interesting because its records go right back to 923. It produces some of the Rhine's very best wine.
We passed further towns and castles, and moored in Rüdesheim, which is opposite the town of Bingen. Bingen was known to us because of Hildegard of Bingen, often referred to as an early feminist. She was born in 1098, became an abbess, and was a noted and popular composer, whose music is still sung today after nearly 1000 years. She corresponded with many powerful people, and through her existing letters we know that she was a well-known critic of both secular and religious leaders - rather unusual for her time.
The castle opposite Bingen, Ehrenfels, was built in1208 and destroyed by the French in 1689. Enough of castles! We went for a walk round Rüdesheim, which was stuffed with tourists. There were some very delightful old half-timbered buildings in the old part of the town.
This is Klunkhardshof, a slightly curved building dating back to the early 1500s. The solid back wall formed part of the town's oldest fortifications.
The most attractive building of all is probably the former residence of the Brömser family, the Brömserhof.
It currently houses a museum of mechanical musical instruments.
We didn't climb as far as either the burial place of Hildegard of Bingen or her abbey, both of which are claimed to be here; instead, we returned to the boat and had a very early supper so we could catch a coach back to St. Goar to see the fireworks display referred to as 'Rhine on Fire', which is supposed to be very spectacular. The drive took just over half an hour, but just before we arrived the rain began, and it quickly became a thunderstorm and then a cloudburst. We got out of the bus, but most people were soaked to the skin in the few seconds it took to try and find some shelter. Most of the bars and cafés were already packed with people trying to keep dry, and the prospect of waiting for two very wet hours to see fireworks in the pouring rain did not appeal. About half of us just got back in the bus and returned to the boat. We'll find out tomorrow morning if we should have stayed!
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